The Girl Who Spun Gold

Bibliographic Information: Hamilton, V. (2000). The Girl Who Spun Gold. Illus. Leo and Diane Dillon. New York, NY. The Blue Sky Press.

Brief Annotation: Quashiba must guess a little man's name, before he turns her into a tiny little woman.

Genre: Folktale

Grade Level: 2 - 6

Readers who will like this book: Anyone who loves folktales, and especially the folktale Rumpelstiltskin.

Rating/Response: 4 out of 4. This is an excellent version of the familiar folktale. The language is dynamic and interesting, and the illustrations are wonderful.

One question I would ask before a read aloud: Do the folktales we already know have different versions from other cultures?

10/40: An adaptation of Hot Seat, from 50 Literacy Strategies, by Gail E. Tompkins.

Choose one student to
take on a persona of one of the characters from this story, and another student
to take on the persona of the equivalent character from the more familiar
version.
Provide each student
some time to review premade cards, listing the basic information given about
the characters from the tales.
Have the two students
sit on “hot seats” in front of the class. Allow the other students to ask
questions of the characters, or make comments about the characters.
Finish by having the
students summarize the differences and similarities of the two characters.